Would church believers save a witch?
Yorko did not realize that he had already forgotten about the bacon and had been all ears as Annie continued with the story.
"They helped Hero out of the cell. With their help, Hero successfully escaped the search from the church. After the war, the survived Judgement Warriors even provided her with food and clothes for a period of time, until their army returned to Hermes and they had to bid farewell. Before they departed, all the Judgement Warriors who had been imprisoned in that cell expressed their gratitude to her."
Yorko knitted his brows. "But regarding the title 'Hero', could it be..."
"She's a hero." The whip was in Annie's voice again. "No matter how the citizens who received her treatment look at her, she did save thousands of people in Wolfheart City, including me and Amy. She deserved such a title."
The ambassador let out a sigh. He had not known that witches suffered far more than he had imagined. If he were unfairly treated in that way, he would view everyone as his enemy and kill all of them to avenge himself, and certainly would not trust anybody.
Yorko's indignation for being under constant suspicion gradually dissipated.
"Her legs... can probably be healed."
"Really? Are you serious?"
"What should we do?"
All the eyes rested on Yorko in a second, including Hero's. She could be no more than 18 or 19 years old by her look. Although misfortunes had weighed down upon her, she had not been devastated by all the snares and toils she had been through during the war. Her eyes were still full of hope instead of numbness and confusion.
"Ahem, I'm not sure." Yorko rubbed his nose."Hill once said there're over 300 witches in Graycastle. Their power of the devil... No, I mean their abilities should vary, right? Perhaps somebody can regenerate amputated limbs or even grow a new one."
"300?" No. 76 exclaimed in surprise. "How did the King of Graycastle get so many witches?"
"It's a long story. My old friend is a born king. He saw through the church's scheme a long time ago. Not only does he allow witches in his domain to live a normal life, but he also insists on the innocence of witches and advertises this concept throughout Graycastle. Gradually, more witches turn to him for protection and work for him." Yorko took this opportunity to lavish praise on Roland. "So you don't need to worry about your future life at all. His Majesty claims that everyone in Neverwinter will be suited to a job, including witches."
"What kind of jobs?" Amy's eyes were glistening.
"How should I know... I haven't been to Neverwinter," Yorko thought to himself. "Um, naturally, it depends on your ability. For example, if you can manipulate flames, you can be a blacksmith. If you can conjure whirlwinds, you can work at a mill to activate windmills, something like that." Yorko rambled. "Anyway, His Majesty is planning to build a new king's city in the Western Region, and he certainly needs people. Even if your ability can't help with anything, you can still work as an ordinary person."
"Sounds pretty good indeed." Annie eyed Amy who apparently wanted to voice out. "But lies always sound better than reality. At present, I..."
"I got it. I got it. You haven't fully trusted me yet, right?" Yorko spread out his hands. "Then trust your own eyes when you get there."
"By the way, how did you know Hero?" No. 76 put in.
"When Wolfheart City fell, I happened to live at Amy's place. I noticed the curious behavior of the Judgement Army soldiers', so I followed them and discovered Hero," Annie answered while fiddling with the bonfire. "We met Broken Sword several months later. She was caught by church believers who garrisoned there and was to be sent to Holy City. I ambushed the unit who escorted her and thus saved Broken Sword."
"You alone?"
"If I'm fully prepared, it actually isn't any harder to raid a group of soldiers than a pack of animals," Annie said placidly. "After that ambush, however, the church intensified their searching operation by several times, and we had nowhere to hide. So we joined refugees and left Wolfheart. We went all the way to the south until finally settling down in the orphanage in the city of Glow."
"What a dramatic escape." No. 76 commented with a sigh.
"But it's far from the end," Yorko thought, "Although the hunt by the Kingdom of Dawn isn't as nerve-racking as the one by the church, the number of the armies running after them is more than enough to kill them all." Yorko hoped that all Hill's concerns were just groundless fears, otherwise Appen Moya would never set them free. As long as they were still within the territory of the Kingdom of Dawn, they were not considered to be safe.
He shook his head to put these annoying thoughts behind. "Let's finish the dinner and sleep soon. We have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow."
Surprisingly, they did not encounter any obstructions in the next few days. They took the route planned out by the magician and managed to avoid entering any cities. Instead, they exclusively picked paths in the rural area. Five days later, they reached Wind Ridge of the Kingdom of Dawn. Another day of traveling toward south would bring them to the North of the Graycastle.
Yorko felt a little relieved.
He did not like the feeling of being alert all the time, for even the slightest sound at night would wake him up. In comparison, No. 76 was more self-collected. She took good care of both witches and Yorko.
Within a few days, No. 76 had totally blended in with these witches. She was, in particular, close to Amy, the most naive one, who had almost viewed No. 76 as her fourth sister.
Yorko leaned against the soft cushion while looking at the endless winding mountains and yellow fields outside the window. He started to hum involuntarily.
He had failed to fulfill his duties as an ambassador, but instead, he brought his old friend four witches. If Hill was right, how many rewards would His Majesty bestow him?
While he was still absorbed in his dream, the magician responsible for security suddenly came to him from the rear of the fleet. "Sir, we may have trouble. It looks like we've been tailed."
"What?"
Yorko's heart leaped into his throat. He quickly poked his head out of the window but did not find anything unusual.
"There're knights seven or eight miles away from us. You can't see them from here." The magician spurred his horse into a small trot in order to keep up with the coach. "They don't march very fast but we're even slower. If things go on like this, they'll sooner or later catch up and spot us."
"Are you sure they're our enemies?"
"No. I took a glimpse from a distance but I can't take the chance. There're around 20 to 30 people, all fully armored. They don't have any extra relaying horses. It's probable that they tracked us through our hoove prints."
"Then what should we do?" Yorko instantly panicked out.
"We must get off the carriage and walk. There's a wood close by where horses can't go through,which can impede the procession of the knights," The magician replied in a low voice. "But this will only bring down their speed to the same level of ours. Once we're caught up, all of us will be doomed. If we want to successfully get rid of them, one person has to lead the fleet to move on and divert them to the main road."
He paused for a second and went on, "In other words, somebody has to make a sacrifice."